German Far-Right Support Dwindles Ahead of European Elections
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(Bloomberg) -- Support for Germany’s AfD dwindled further ahead of June’s European Parliament elections, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way ruling coalition is still struggling to eke out any advantage from the far-right party’s woes.
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If the European elections were held this weekend, the Alternative for Germany would get 16% of the vote, according to a Forschungsgruppe Wahlen poll for public broadcaster ZDF published Friday.
That’s well below the 23% it garnered in an Insa poll for Bild newspaper in July last year, and further evidence that recent scandals around an apparent “re-migration” policy and alleged links to Russia have harmed the party.
Scholz’s Social Democrats also scored 16%, while the Greens were at 15% and the Free Democrats — Scholz’s third and smallest coalition partner — had just 3% support. Germany’s main opposition conservatives retained a clear lead with 30%.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent months to demonstrate against right-wing extremism since reporters exposed a meeting at which members of the AfD discussed a “re-migration” scheme that calls for the mass deportation of foreigners and echoed policies of the Nazis.
Despite the protests, the party is still leading in the polls ahead of three elections in September in its eastern German stronghold, though it’s unlikely to get into government as all other parties have ruled out an alliance with it.
One of the AfD’s most controversial leaders, Bjoern Hoecke, took part in a high-profile television debate late Thursday with his opponent in the eastern state of Thuringia, Mario Voigt of the Christian Democrats.
Hoecke, who’s poised to stand trial for the alleged use of a Nazi slogan during a campaign event, retreated from some of his earlier positions on migration.
Confronted with a passage from a book he published, where he demanded the expulsion of a member of parliament with a migrant heritage, he said that he couldn’t remember the section in question.
Hoecke, a former history teacher, justified his use of the slogan “All for Germany”, which is banned in the country because it resembles one used by the Nazis, by asserting that he hadn’t been aware of its historical link.
He said he had simply tried to translate former US President Donald Trump’s “America First” catchphrase into German.
Critics had warned ahead of the debate, which was carried live on broadcaster Welt TV, that it would offer Hoecke an additional public platform. The Thuringia AfD is one of three regional branches to have been categorized as right-wing extremist.
Voigt defended his decision to participate. “It was right to reveal the differences,” he said after the show. “I’m very confident that something has changed here.”
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